Bellbowrie

Community Church

We exist to elevate God above everything else, by loving Him with a ‘crazy’ love so profound, that we live togetheras fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, who love each other and share God’s good news everywhere.

Bellbowrie Community Church is a Bible believing Christian church located at 3077 Moggill Road, Bellbowrie, Queensland. We are an independent evangelical church that is affiliated with a network of similar churches known in Australia as Christian Community Churches of Australia (CCCAust).

Ultimately, we are a diverse group of people with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, who are united together by a common faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. We believe a genuine relationship with God is the most important thing in life. We believe that the Bible is authoritative and relevant to life, and as such, we are committed to teaching it, learning from it, being shaped by it, and living it.

Our main Sunday service is a time of worshipful music and singing, Bible teaching, and sharing communion together on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month. Kids church (4–14 yrs) and Crèche (0-3 yrs) participate in the initial part of the service for 15-20 minutes before their programmes begin. Teaching from the Bible is usually led by male elders, who are supported by other gifted members of the church, or by uniquely qualified invited teachers. While the format of our public church services are not charismatic, some church members practice such expressions privately. Our main Sunday service starts at 10:00am and morning tea is always provided afterward.

You are most welcome to join us as we worship God together. See you soon,

“Christ will do everything for you or nothing, he’s either all of your righteousness or none.”

Tim Keller

“Whenever we say my sin doesn’t matter because I’m under grace, we cheapen the grace of Christ by denying what Jesus went through on the cross.”

Brendon Pearce

“Faith is [often] defined as ‘believing that Jesus is Savior’ and no more. Jesus is indeed Savior; but but in order for him to become the Savior for a given person, that person must surrender himself or herself in trust and obedience for true faith to be expressed.”

Scott McKnight

“Regarding forgiveness… it is wrong to ask from God what we are not willing to give to others”

Darrell Bock

“God wants us to know that when we have Him, we have everything.”

AW Tozer

“Trials reveal your motivations in the faith: Am I serving God or do I want God to serve me?”

Tim Keller

“ Christians… are to forgive with the same forgiveness with which they have been forgiven, for this is evidence that they themselves are indeed forgiven.”

Michael J. Wilkins

“ Pointing to his disciples, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Jesus – Matt 12:49-50

“Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you do, and you will presently come to love him.”

C.S. Lewis

“True faith in our hearts brings obedience in our lives.”

Tim Keller

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable in others because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

C.S. Lewis

“The gospel… offends people who want salvation to be an easy life… who want their lives to be safe and comfortable.”

Tim Keller

“What we repeatedly do forms our loves – or said another way, our habits become our worship.”

Jen Pollock Michel

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.”

Apostle Paul – Rom 12:3

“The reality is, most of us simply don’t believe Jesus or Paul when they say that wealth can be a barrier to entering the kingdom of God.”

David Platt

“Those who… place their own interest above the unity of the church… should question whether they belong to God’s people.”

Frank Thielman

“Self-justification and judging belong together, as justification by grace and serving belong together.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Die before you die, there’s no chance after.”

C.S. Lewis

“If we pick out which parts of the Bible we dislike, we actually have a god we’ve created. How can that god ever call you out on anything?”

Tim Keller

“The point of your life is to point to Him.”

Francis Chan

“A divided commitment to the #gospel, as #Jesus never tired of saying in various ways, is actually no commitment at all.”

Frank Thielman

“A theology abstracted from the behaviour it demands is distorted and inadequate.”

Frank Thielman

“Hate eats on the soul…To get free of hatred is like being healed of cancer.”

A.W. Tozer

“Suffering is the stripping of our hope in finite things, therefore we do not put our ultimate hope in anything finite.”

Tim Keller

“died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

Apostle Paul – 2Cor 5:15

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

C.S. Lewis

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them…”

Jesus – John 6:44

“To ask that God’s love should be content with us as we are is to ask that God should cease to be God.”

C.S. Lewis

“If you say: I believe in God, I trusted God, and He didn’t come through; then you only trusted God to meet your agenda.”

Tim Keller

“God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”

C.S. Lewis

“If Christ is not first with you, Christ is nothing to you.”

Charles Spurgeon

“Everyone says they want community and friendship, but when that means accountability or commitment people run the other way.”

Tim Keller

“The more fascinated we become with the toys of this world the more we forget that there’s another world to come.”

A.W. Tozer

“When you feel yourself to be utterly unworthy, you have hit the truth.”

Charles Spurgeon

Sunday Services

9:00am – Contemplative Service

Our contemplative service goes for approximately 45 minutes, and is a more traditional style of service common among the Christian Community Churches of Australia. It usually opens with prayer, one or two songs from a chorus book, and someone sharing an initial thought from the Bible. It then usually moves into an open time where any person is free to read a Bible passage, pray publicly, share a thought, request a hymn or chorus to be sung, or just sit in contemplative silence and prayer. The service typically ends with the Lord’s Supper (Communion) which is shared together every week.

10:00am – Main Family Service

Our main family service goes for approximately 1 hour 15 minutes, and would be described as contemporary and relaxed, rather than traditional and formal. A typical service would include singing worshipful songs, reading the Bible, hearing the Bible explained, and praying together. Communion is shared together at this service on the first and third Sundays of each month. For a more detailed explanation of this service, click on ‘what to expect’.

10:20am – Kids Church

Children join in the first 15-20 minutes of our main family service and then head off to our kids church programme for ages 4–14 years. At kids church all the children share in an initial time together of singing and fun, before breaking into more age appropriate groups for further learning and activities. These groups are: kindy-prep (3-5 yrs), grades 1-3 (6-8 yrs), grades 4-6 (9-11 yrs), and JOLT (12-14 yrs).

We also have a parent’s room where babies can be changed and nursed, as well as a crèche area where toddlers can play. Both these spaces are at the back of the building and contain a speaker to allow parents to continue listening to the service, while looking after their children.

5:00pm – Youth Service

Our youth service is known as Y-Focus and currently takes place on the third Sunday evening of each month. This service goes for approximately 1 hour 15 minutes, and typically includes singing worshipful songs, reading the Bible, hearing the Bible explained, and praying together. It is contemporary in style, and as the name suggests is focused more specifically at the interests of young people, although all age groups are welcome and encouraged to attend. See the calendar for the exact dates of these services.

What to Expect

Sunday Morning @ 10am

We know that even regular church attenders find it a little daunting visiting a new church, so here is a bit of information explaining what happens in our main service. We hope this might put you more at ease:

Welcome

We extend a warm welcome to anyone, from any walk of life, to join with us at our services. Whether it is a one off visit or regular attendance, whether you are a Christian or not, you are welcome at Bellbowrie Community Church.

Dress

We generally dress fairly casually, so it is rare to see someone wearing a tie. Our pastor would typically wear a shirt and jeans, and it is not uncommon for some of the younger people to wear shorts and thongs. But please come in whatever you feel most comfortable to wear.

Arriving

You can expect to be greeted at the door with a friendly welcome, and a newsletter explaining what is happening around our church. Please feel free to sit wherever you like, we won’t embarrass you by introducing you publically or anything like that.

Format

Our main service takes around one hour, fifteen minutes. It could be described as contemporary and relaxed, rather than traditional and formal. A typical service might include singing some songs, reading the Bible, hearing the Bible explained, and praying together. It is fine to just listen and watch if you would prefer not to sing.

Music

Our music is mostly a contemporary style and will often be led by a band that includes piano, keyboard, guitar, bass, drums, and trumpet. Some people prefer to sit down during singing, and it is fine to do this, but most people will usually stand. The lyrics will be projected onto the screen at the front.

Children

Children join in for the first 15-20mins of the service and then head off to our Kids church programme (for 4–14 yrs). You are welcome to attend Kids church with your children, and to stay for as long as it takes for them to be comfortable without you. It is also fine to keep your children with you during the main service, we won’t mind a little bit of noise.

We also have a parent’s room where babies can be changed and nursed, as well as a crèche area where toddlers can play. Both these spaces are at the back of the building and contain a speaker to allow parents to continue listening to the service.

Communion

We share and participate in the Lord’s Supper (communion) together on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month. You don’t have to be a church member to participate, anyone who proclaims Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour is welcome to join in. Typically one of our church leaders will offer a brief explanation of communion, and pray, and then each person comes forward and takes a piece of bread and a cup of juice back to their seat to quietly reflect and pray.

Giving

During our service we will take up a voluntary financial offering. This is part of the way we worship, and express our immeasurable gratitude to God. We do not expect visitors to contribute to this offering, in fact we do not even ask our regular church members to contribute if their heart does not desire to. You are welcome to, but please don’t feel obligated to contribute to the offering.

Afterward

Morning tea is provided after the service, and we would encourage you to stay for a cup of tea, or coffee, or a cold drink, as well as a biscuit, or scone, or piece of cake. Morning tea is a great opportunity to meet, and chat, and get to know people. So if you are able to stay, we would like to get to know you, but if you can’t then that is fine.

Staff

John Gill

Senior Pastor

John is married to Josie and they have three children, Joshua, Faith, and Ella. Originally from New Zealand, John has served as pastor at Bellbowrie Community Church since 2013. John considers that being a Christian is ultimately about entering into a real, personal, intimate, relationship with God. We were created to have this relationship, and only in it can we find genuine and lasting joy, contentment, and fulfillment in life. As a pastor then, John desires to see people both come into this relationship, and then also to see people grow closer and deeper with God, so that they authentically experience the inexpressible joy of knowing Him personally.

Paul is married to Sarah and they have three children ranging from Primary School through to High School. Coming from a background in the area of Exercise Science, Paul has been a pastor at Bellbowrie Community Church since 2008, and is primarily involved with children, teenagers, young adults, and families. Over this time God has taught Paul much about the difference between being a ‘cultural Christian’ and a ‘follower of Jesus.’ His passion is to ‘make ready a people prepared for the Lord’ and he is excited when he sees young people searching for truth. You will often find Paul hanging out with kids, strumming his guitar, and generally attempting to be cool.

Natalie is married to Scott and they have two children, Rebekah who is currently studying at University, and Joshua who is in High School. Natalie began attending Bellbowrie Community Church in 2007, over which time she has served in a variety of different ministries, including currently being one of our church Deacon's. Natalie is bi-vocational, working three days a week (Tues - Thurs) as our church administrator, which she has done since 2014. Natalie has a real passion for women's ministry, in particular the importance of developing deeper relationships - firstly with God, and then secondly with each other so that we can build each other up in Christ.

Programmes

Sunday

9:00am Contemplative Service – is an open time where any person is free to read a Bible passage, pray publicly, share a thought, request a hymn or chorus, or just sit in contemplative silence and prayer. Communion is shared together every week.

10:00am Main Family Service – is a time of worshipful music, corporate prayer, and Bible teaching. Communion is shared together on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month.

10:20am Kids Church – for children aged 4–14 yrs, begins after participating in the initial 15-20 minutes of the Main Family Service.

Monthly

5:00pm Youth Focused Service – runs on the third Sunday evening of each month and is a time of worshipful music and Bible teaching aimed more specifically at the interests of young people (see calendar for exact dates).

Tuesday

9:30am Mainly Music – provides music, dance, and creative activities for young children and their mums, dads, or carers. It costs $5 and includes morning tea.

9:30am Knit and Natter – provides an opportunity for women of all ages to socialise while knitting. Morning tea is provided. (restarts 6th Feb 2018).

Wednesday

9:30am Mainly Music – provides music, dance, and creative activities for young children and their mums, dads, or carers. It costs $5 and includes morning tea.

Saturday

7:00am Community Prayer – provides and opportunity for people to pray for the needs of the people in our local area, as well as our city, country, and the world.

For more information about the dates of these programmes, or to ask a question

Good News

We were designed by God to find ultimate fulfilment in life through a close intimate relationship with Him. The good news (actually the greatest news ever) is that through Jesus Christ, God has provided a way for us have this relationship with God, that we were designed for.

God designed and made everything in the world and He rules it.

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Revelation 4:11)

Because God made everything, including us, this world belongs to Him and He is in charge. As Creator only He has this right, making Him the ultimate authority and judge over the world. This is actually a good thing, because God loves His creation and on His part, always does what is best for it. And as Creator He knows even better than we do, what is best.

When God created the world, He also made people to reflect in certain ways His own character, and He put us in charge – to rule, look after, care for, and enjoy the beauty and goodness of this world. God designed us to look after this world, under His authority, honouring Him and obeying His directions.

But…

We have all rejected God by living our own way, without Him.

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away… there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12)

Unfortunately, right from the beginning, all people have chosen to reject God and live their own way, and we do this too. We don’t like being told what to do or how to live, so we rebel by disobeying God’s instructions, ignoring Him, and living life how we want. We have chosen our own way instead of God’s way, and this rebellion is called ‘sin’.

By rejecting God we have messed up our lives, our society, and this world, with everyone selfishly doing what they want, instead of following God’s ways as He designed. The end result of all this competing selfishness is a world with a lot of misery, suffering, and injustice.